


The Secret Ingredient

by DarkShadeless



Series: Magnolia Drive [8]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Annie's magical garden, Gen, Halloween story, and all of her little friends ;), her cottage is a lovely place
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2021-01-13 10:51:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21242903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkShadeless/pseuds/DarkShadeless
Summary: It’s love. What else would it be?





	The Secret Ingredient

"Ah!“ Annie is so focused on juggling her baby, the pumpkin and the tomatoes Gourgeist graciously provided, she doesn’t see her surprise visitor until it is too late. If you can call someone who jumps your fence a visitor. Really. Are manners a thing of the past?

He rams her hard enough for her to lose her footing. What to keep a hold of is no choice at all.

The vegetables fly through the air and roll across the ground. Her pumpkin gets the worst of it. Pumpkins don’t bounce well…

Annie knows it’s a goner before she even looks. What a waste. Maybe some of it is salvageable?

But first things first. Her behind smarts, she has an armful of whining, unhappy pokemon and she was looking _forward_ to those cookies, damn it. She almost dropped Kyu! “Hey! Watch it!”

The ruffian that ran her over has the gall to look surprised. "... uh. Sorry?"

He's a right sight, unkempt from his muddy boots to the smattering of stubble on his cheeks. There are leaves in his hair.

Now, Annie doesn't mind getting her hands dirty, she's out foraging often enough but it's a bit much to call on people when you're bringing the inedible half of the forest with you.

She makes an unsuccessful attempt to dust her skirt off and does a quick check on Kyu's costume. _Pfu. Looks like it survived the landing. _

Her baby is _not _mollified by that. It flails in their guests general direction. "Kyuyu! Kyu!"

Apparently it has _opinions_ on surprise visitors. Annie can't blame it. That was quite a scare.

* * *

"_Really?_ Out of the blue?"

"Yeah, didn't see it coming. Woosh and there. And _pissed_."

"Oh dear…"

Hardison watches the lady, Annie, finish up making tea. Pretty china, too, if slightly chipped. Nice of her to offer them a pick me up, what with him ruining her vegetables and all.

That's not to say he forgot what brought them here.

This house, it is the center of whatever is going on with Magnolia drive and Annie…

_He grabs her wrist as soon as he has enough wits about him to do so. "Miss, miss we need to leave-"_

_"What?" _

_"This place is not safe, we gotta scram-"_

_"Excuse me?" Her expression looks torn between confusion and offense. "I live here!"_

_"You what?"_

_I live here_. The words still echo through his mind.

She's… real. Not a phantasm. Hardison is pretty sure, anyway. You can never be 100% but her cake tastes real enough. Decidueye doesn't have an issue with her either.

Now her Pikachu, those are another matter. Distrustful little things. His partner has been watching them like a hawk since he ran her over. Probably the Electro type. Old habits die hard and that used to be one of his pokemon's weakest match ups just a few years and an evolution ago.

Though… they are a bit weird. He could swear the one that was in the house when they came and plastered itself to it's trainer as soon as she walked in has been giving him the stink eye ever since.

_Brrr._

There's something… something about them. He can almost pin it down, almost. Damnedest feeling.

"You should stick to the road. Less risk of angering the locals, you know." Annie serves him his tea with a smile and that bit of advice with a slap on the wrist behind it. He feels a little like his grandma caught him pilfering apples.

Which is ridiculous. Girl looks like she could be his kid. If he had kids. Which he doesn't, thank you very much.

"Yeah, I'll, I'll keep that in mind. Thanks."

The tea is just as good as the cake. A hint of strawberry gives it a sweetness that warms Hardison right up and chases the fright from his bones. Mostly.

_What is it? There's something…_

He lets his mouth run while he tries to figure it out. "What did you say your pokemon's names were again? Sorry, I was still a bit rattled."

"Oh, no worries. This is Mimi," she gestures to the suspicious one that looks like it would take on Decidueye if it's trainer hadn't chidded it for throwing sparks as a welcome. There's a pink bow on one of it's ears. "And this is Kyu."

Right. The shy one with the blue bow, that was in the yard with her.

Wait. Mimi. Kyu. Mimi-Kyu. _Mimikyu._

With the realization of what she has _said_ his view of the world shifts a step to the right. Angles bend the wrong way and snap back into focus. Annie's adorable little Pikachu flicker like a bad tv commercial, revealing the truth underneath the illusion in flashes.

As with a lot of techniques that trick the senses it shatters once he _knows _it's fake. Without it their disguise is little more than a mockery of what they're trying to pretend to be.

_Mimikyu. I'll be damned._

Hardison half-expects the entire kitchen to fall apart and turn out to be a ramshackle hovel but… it doesn't. Annie stays as she is too.

"Mr. Hardison?" She blinks at him guilelessly as if she has no idea what’s going on. She gotta know right? With names like that she _has to_. … right? "Is something wrong with the tea?"

The Pika- the _Mimikyu _with the pink bow, Mimi, stares straight into his soul from where it's hiding behind her skirt. Hardison swallows. "No, no, it's- it's good. Tea's great."

Oh, hell. _Snickerdoodles._

* * *

"Really, Mr. Hardison. It's not as bad as all that. If you stay on the road you'll be right as rain! Ten minute walk and that'll be it."

Hardison glances at the miniature menace clinging to Annie's hems. He dares to doubt that. "Still, I'd feel a lot better if you showed me back out, miss. Gotta admit I'm a bit shook."

He's not even lying. Hardison has nerves of steel but he doesn't need to go pick a fight with a whole forests worth of Ghost pokemon with only Decidueye for backup.

That's a bit more than they can chew.

Their host heaves a sigh. "Oh well. I was going to go to the market anyhow, I suppose. I'll finish up and we can go."

"Thank you, miss."

"Don't mention it." Though she's a bit put upon, her smile's back right quick. The pumpkin she has been cleaning is all but put away in neat little squares soon enough. "Might be for the best," Miss Annie ventures ruefully, "Gourgeist wasn't very happy with you. It put a lot of work into this pumpkin, you know?"

Yeah, that pokemon and it's tiny hoard of Pumpkaboo have been peeking in the window since they sat down a time or two. Hardison wouldn't put money on those hellions not to swarm his ass when he gets outside. "You've got a lot of pokemon, ma'am. Dunno how you keep track of em. I've got my hands full with this one."

He slaps Decidueye on the back lightly, just in time to make it choke on an offended caw.

"Deci!"

At the counter, Annie laughs. "I'm sure! They can be so adventurous." That's one way to put it. "But they're not mine. We’re just neighbours."

It takes Hardison a few moments of dumb staring to parse that. "I'm sorry, are you telling me that's a wild Gourgeist in your garden?"

"Sure is!" She… seems to find nothing wrong with that. Blimey. "It looks after the plants and I pay it in cookies. Win- win, yes?"

"Yeah," Hardison breathes, a bit faint, "win-win."

A wild pokemon for a gardener. Who gets that kind of idea and thinks it's a good one?

Then again… Decidueye sneaks another cookie from the 'pokemon-plate' while he's pretending not to notice.

Annie had cheerfully but firmly waved him away from those.

_Oh, those aren't for humans. You wouldn't like them. Unless you've got a taste for poke-beans, Mr. Hardison! Then go right ahead._

He had stayed well away from them after that. Decidueye, on the other hand, is on the best way of clearing the plate under the Mimikyus’ baleful looks.

"You wouldn't happen to be giving those to any other pokemon around here, would you?"

"The cookies?" Annie glances at the snacking bird with laughter in her eyes, "Every now and again. I do a lot of foraging, it's only fair."

* * *

The weather on the main road is dreary but nothing like the unnatural gloominess that hangs over Magnolia drive. With Annie at their side the way back down the hill really does take ten minutes, tops. Hardison is pretty sure distances aren’t supposed to work this way.

She laughed, when he asked her about it.

_It used to feel much longer for me, too, but it’s not. _

... yeah. He has his doubts.

Stepping back out of the forest is a damned relief.

“Thanks again.”

“It’s alright. You’ll be fine from here?”

And how ironic is that, her asking him if he’s going to be okay. Hardison has years of pest control work under his belt on top of a decent stretch as a trainer. But he’s not too proud to admit when he’s in over his head. No reason to borrow trouble. “Yeah. Gotta get my car, anyway.”

“Okay then.” Annie throws them a smile and turns, skirt swishing around her ankles. “ Mimi, Kyu, let’s go. Maybe we’ll catch Mr. Kent before he closes for the day. See you Mr. Hardison!”

“See you, Miss Annie.”

Both him and Decidueye watch her go. As she walks down the street the cloud cover breaks to light the way with a few rays of sunshine.

The feeling of being _watched_ that has followed them all the way here hasn’t abated but he’s pretty sure whatever is doing the watching won’t crawl out of the forest in the middle of the day. Sure enough to heave a careful breath of relief. “Well, that was interesting.” It certainly was that. “Come on. We need to report to our employer.”

“Deci.”

“Hey! I take my responsibilities seriously.” Really. How uncalled for.


End file.
